No evidence for airborne transmission of Toxoplasma gondii in a very high prevalence area in Lancaster County.

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) has been associated with acute food-borne illness, chronic low-grade inflammation, neuropsychiatric conditions and reactivation of chronic latent infection in immunocompetent hosts. Primary infection with T. gondii in pregnant women can lead to congenital toxoplasmosis. In addition to well-known oral tissue-cyst or oocyst ingestion, we hypothesized that the very high prevalence of T. gondii in certain populations exposed to agricultural dust could be, in part, a consequence of airborne infection with oocysts. METHODS: Wo collected environmental dust samples from an area with a reportedly high T. gondii seroprevalence in the Old Order Amish population, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Samples included: a) air filters from air-conditioning units; b) swabs of settled dust; and c) vacuum filters containing airborne field dust. Pools of the swabs and shredded sub-samples of the air filters were fed to pigs, with inoculation into mice of heart tissue from seroconverted pigs. We also investigated the presence of T. gondii DNA using PCR amplification. RESULTS: Only one pig seroconverted. However, bioassay of pig heart tissue further inoculated into mice showed no evidence of T. gondii infection. Consistently, no evidence of T. gondii DNA was revealed in any sample. CONCLUSIONS: No evidence of airborne transmission was found in the environmental samples that were examined.

Seasonality of blood neopterin levels in the Old Order Amish.

Seasonal changes in non-human animals and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in humans are associated with immune activation in winter relative to summer. We intended to measure seasonal variation in neopterin, a marker of cellular immunity, and its interactions with gender and seasonality of mood. We studied 320 Amish from Lancaster, PA, USA (men = 128; 40%) with an average age [Standard deviation (SD)] of 56.7 (13.9) years. Blood neopterin level was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Seasonality was measured with Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ). Statistical analysis included analysis of covariance (ANCOVAs) and multivariate linear regression. We also investigated interactions of seasonal differences in neopterin with gender, seasonality scores and estimation of SAD diagnosis. We found a significantly higher neopterin level in winter than in summer (p = 0.006). There were no significant gender or seasonality interactions. Our study confirmed the hypothesized higher neopterin level in winter. A cross sectional design was our major limitation. If this finding will be replicated by longitudinal studies in multiple groups, neopterin could be used to monitor immune status across seasons in demographically diverse samples, even if heterogeneous in gender distribution, and degree of seasonality of mood.

Toxoplasma gondii IgG Serointensity Is Positively Associated With Frailty.

BACKGROUND: Persistent inflammation related to aging ("inflammaging") is exacerbated by chronic infections and contributes to frailty in older adults. We hypothesized associations between Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), a common parasite causing an oligosymptomatic unremitting infection, and frailty, and secondarily between T. gondii and previously reported markers of immune activation in frailty. METHODS: We analyzed available demographic, social, and clinical data in Spanish and Portuguese older adults [N = 601; age: mean (SD) 77.3 (8.0); 61% women]. Plasma T. gondii immunoglobulin G (IgG) serointensity was measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The Fried criteria were used to define frailty status. Validated translations of Mini-Mental State Examination, Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Charlson Comorbidity Index were used to evaluate confounders. Previously analyzed biomarkers that were significantly associated with frailty in both prior reports and the current study, and also related to T. gondii serointensity, were further accounted for in multivariable logistic models with frailty as outcome. RESULTS: In T. gondii-seropositives, there was a significant positive association between T. gondii IgG serointensity and frailty, accounting for age (p = .0002), and resisting adjustment for multiple successive confounders. Among biomarkers linked with frailty, kynurenine/tryptophan and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor II were positively associated with T. gondii serointensity in seropositives (p < .05). Associations with other biomarkers were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: This first reported association between T. gondii and frailty is limited by a cross-sectional design and warrants replication. While certain biomarkers of inflammaging were associated with both T. gondii IgG serointensity and frailty, they did not fully mediate the T. gondii-frailty association.

Heritability of plasma neopterin levels in the Old Order Amish.

BACKGROUND: We examined the heritability of neopterin, a biomarker for cell-mediated immunity and oxidative stress, and potentially for psychiatric disorders, in the Old Order Amish. METHODS: Plasma neopterin levels were determined in 2015 Old Order Amish adults. Quantitative genetic procedures were used to estimate heritability of neopterin. RESULTS: Heritability of log-neopterin was estimated at 0.07 after adjusting for age, gender, and household (p=0.03). The shared household effect was 0.06 (p<0.02). CONCLUSIONS: We found a low heritability of neopterin and small household effect, suggesting that non-household environmental factors are more important determinants of variance of neopterin levels in the Amish.

Test-retest reliability of the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire in Old Order Amish.

BACKGROUND: Research on test-retest reliability of the Season Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) is sparse, and to date, has not been done with subgroups such as the Old Order Amish. METHODS: We examined the test-retest reliability of the SPAQ in a sample of Old Order Amish. A total of 68 Old Order Amish participants completed the SPAQ twice, with 4 months between administrations. Quantitative data analyses were carried out to determine respective strengths of test-restest reliability for two variables [i.e., Global Seasonality Score (GSS), and Problem Rating Score (PRS)]. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Results revealed the test-retest reliability of the SPAQ in this population to be strong within the respective variables (GSS, α= 0.87; and PRS, α= 0.79) using Cronbach's alpha.

Seasonality patterns of mood and behavior in the Old Order Amish.

BACKGROUND: Although humans have become partially isolated from physical seasonal environmental changes through artificial lighting and temperature control, seasonal changes in mood and behavior have been described across hemispheres, continents, ethnicities and occupations. The Old Order Amish are more exposed than the general population to environmental seasonal changes both occupationally as well as through their limited use of electric light in the winter and air conditioning in the summer; yet, their seasonal changes in mood and behavior have not been previously studied. METHODS: The aim of this study was to analyze seasonal patterns in mood and behavior in the Old Order Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who returned completed Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaires (SPAQ). Monthly seasonal patterns were analyzed with repeated measures ANOVAs, followed by a post hoc t-test if significant. The χ2 was used for presence or absence of seasonal patterns for each item. RESULTS: More than 75% of the participants reported at least one seasonal change. More than 75 % endorsed seasonality in "feeling best" but only <25% did so for "feeling worst". Mood-wise, the best month was May, and the worst months were January and February. CONCLUSIONS: There were significant seasonal patterns for all mood and behavior items reported by the majority of participants. The results were consistent with an overall winter pattern of seasonality previously consistently reported in predominantly Caucasian populations.